ASK & DISCUSS
INDEXWhy Are Writers Worthless?
12 years, 9 months ago - Martin Wallace
A few weeks ago I was trying to make a post in the Filmmakers Bulletin. I’m a writer director producer (I normally say filmmaker, but I want to be clear here) and I was hoping to find a creative producer with whom to collaborate, in order to make an application for the iFeatures2 scheme.
My attempted post was not allowed and despite a few attempts to reason with SP (I wanted to find a ‘collaborator’ not employ someone) I was told my post either had to explicitly indicate pay or else offer ‘expenses only’ -- otherwise it wasn’t legal.
In the end, because the best part of a week had slipped by and I was desperate, I indicated it was ‘expenses only’.
This seemed/seems daft to me. I was looking to find a partner for a team, offering up my ideas and writing, why should I have to cover the expenses of a producer in a applying to a scheme intended for emerging feature filmmakers? Eg. We get to first base with scheme and have a London interview. I have to pay my own train fare and the producers train fare….
The NY Film Makers Bulletin often has ‘Collaboration’ posts, as does the Screenwriters Network Bulletin.
In fact, today (18.06.12) in the Screenwriters Bulletin, I read a sparky post in the ‘Collaboration’ section entitled, “Creatives wanted, best if alive!”
It begins: “We want your mind, we want your ideas, we want your words, we want your madness , we want your dreams, we want your worst nightmares.”
Neither pay nor expenses are of course anywhere to be seen.
And, after stating their intention to “get rich and famous (yes, we want that to)”, it ends with an invitation to writers (aren’t they the ones reading screenwriters network bulleting?) to get in touch: “YOU are probably the right person so drop us an email and send us your work.”
Now let me be clear:
1. I’m not criticising the writers of the sparky post.
2. I’m not complaining about SP -- they have their reasons.
Here’s what I am doing: I’m asking you --
1. Why do you think there’s this implicit inferiority and therefore worthlessness attributed to writers?
2. How can we change this?
And, ‘no’, I’m not paying your f***ing expenses!
Only members can post or respond to topics. LOGIN
Not a member of SP? JOIN or FIND OUT MORE
12 years, 9 months ago - Andrew T. Wright
As far as the "Industry" goes this pretty much sums up the contempt (and the truth) held for writers by most people who aren't and can't -
"The most important person in the motion picture process is the writer, and we must do everything in our power to prevent them from ever realizing it." Irving Thalberg
As far as SP goes, in my opinion what started out as a great idea and website for film makers/writers etc who were passionate about making film and wanted to make film, has now turned into a corporate machine with a crew of pirate accountants at the helm devising more and more elaborate ways of parting creatives from their money with schemes and memberships that were free and available to anyone from a variety of sources before the SP shadow emulated the Skillset model of bleeding everyone dry.
Response from 12 years, 9 months ago - Andrew T. Wright SHOW
12 years, 9 months ago - Andy Conway
Hi Martin, I agree with much of this. I moderated the bulletin yesterday and allowed those posts but got an email from SP HQ telling me I should observe our expenses policy on collaborations. I do think if a producer who is going to own the finished product wants a writer to collaborate they should offer a real stake in the production in return for the script if they can't raise funding up front. But there's a grey area where true collaborations take place on an equal footing.
Response from 12 years, 9 months ago - Andy Conway SHOW
12 years, 9 months ago - Ben Blaine
Has any debate been more muddled than the one current raging furiously on the Screenwriters' Network?
Today my blog provides a handy outline of most of the biggest confusions that have grown from everyone's desire to angrily agree with the suggestion that someone somewhere thinks that writers are worthless...
http://shootingpeople.org/bensblog
much love
bB
Response from 12 years, 9 months ago - Ben Blaine SHOW
12 years, 9 months ago - Steve Turnbull
I had exactly the same experience as Martin.
I'm a Writer-Producer and I was looking for a replacement to a co-producer
who'd let us down (this person was going to take our project to Cannes - then
didn't go).
But no the Filmmakers bulletin would not let me post unless I could say how
much they'd get. Though I made it clear I wasn't asking for a freebie, producer's
expect to get a %age and that was stated. And no, I wasn't paying their
expenses either I just wanted someone who was already going to Cannes who
might also be interested in our project.
But that wasn't good enough.
Of course I asked on LinkedIn with complete impunity.
I argued for a while but eventually gave up. I wasn't actually expecting to find
anyone on such short notice but it was worth a punt.
SP need to rethink their interpretation of the laws. This is a private list, that
does make a difference.
Response from 12 years, 9 months ago - Steve Turnbull SHOW